Uvita - cropped Costa Rica / Personal / Travel

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past few weeks. We’ve been trying to decide where we’d like to have our baby, and where we’d like to live for the majority of next year. After looking at several different countries, we realized that there weren’t a lot of options for dual citizenship in countries we would want to live long-term right now.

Yes, Canada and Spain are lovely, but they’re also more expensive, and not our favorite climate. Ecuador is much more affordable, and parts of it are very beautiful, but it has security issues, and we don’t like drinking bottled water all the time. If we ever do want to get residency in Ecuador, though, all we have to do is put $25,000 in a CD (earning 7-9% interest, by the way), and we’re instant permanent residents! And after that, we could become citizens if we want to stay for 2-3 more years. Maybe sometime down the road…

Having a Baby in Costa Rica

Our garden

After looking at all our options, we decided to stay in Costa Rica, and have our baby here! As an additional bonus, once the baby is born and is a Costa Rican citizen (as well as a U.S. citizen), we will then be related to a Costa Rican, allowing us to apply for permanent residency as well, so we will no longer have to leave the country every 90 days if we choose to stay here. We could have applied for residency anyway, as long as we can prove a certain income level, and live in the country 6 months every year. But now we won’t need to worry about either of those requirements, and will only need to visit Costa Rica once a year for 72 hours to keep our residency status. This will give us more of the freedom to travel that we’re looking for, as well as the freedom to stay if we choose.

So the next question is, where in Costa Rica will we have the baby? Based on our last two deliveries, which were extremely fast, it makes the most sense to have the baby in our house, so we don’t risk having it in the car on the way to the hospital. Plus, after watching the documentary, The Business of Being Born, we realized that a natural home birth with a midwife is what we want anyway. But we do want to be close to a hospital just in case, even though we don’t plan on using it. Unfortunately, the best private hospitals are in San José (Costa Rica’s largest city), so we will probably be spending at least the month of June in either Escazú, Santa Ana, or Ciudad Colon, all of which are nicer areas of San José, less than 20 minutes from the hospital. Unfortunately, they’re also very expensive areas.

Uvita and Ojochal

Making friends in the pool

Recently, we’ve also thought it would be nice to live closer to the beach, even if just from March-May. We took a short trip down to the Uvita/Ojochal area of Costa Rica (4 hour drive), on the southern pacific side, thinking it would be a good place to settle for a while, maybe in a house with a nice ocean and jungle view, and a swimming pool. And while it was a beautiful area, it’s just too remote, and wasn’t as built up as we had imagined. Sure, there is a grocery store or two, and several restaurants, but the roads around the town are all dirt roads, and full of rocks and holes, which we know we would get tired of, especially during late pregnancy. And the towns just lacked a nice community feel, being a little bit too spread out without much of a town center.

Considering Jacó

As we traveled back home, we realized how much we have always liked the town of Jacó and the surrounding area, ever since we visited Jacó for our first time last August. We talked with a few people who are going to keep us posted on some good rentals as they come available. There are some nice little communities near Jacó, whether we’re looking for a little condo with a community pool and a bilingual private school within walking distance, or a private villa overlooking the ocean, there are plenty of options in Jacó. It’s also just an hour away from San José, and is central to most everything in Costa Rica, so would probably be a good place to call home. But we’ll have to see where we end up, since we tend to change our minds quite frequently these days.

We also visited a doctor in San Ramon this week, got an ultrasound, and found that the official due date of our baby is June 17, 2011. We’re excited for this change, and probably have no idea how much this will affect our lives. The kids are also excited to have a new baby brother or sister.





Brandon is a location independent entrepreneur, musician, worldschooling father, and the principal author of this blog. He's all about reaching his potential and enjoying life to the fullest in each moment.


Comments

  1. That red and white flower is an Amaryllis (or perhaps Hippeastrum, though usually labeled as Amaryllis) – often given as gifts or displayed during the holidays here in the US. How nice to have one in the garden.

    Those animals the girls are feeding look like they might be Tayras.
    http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/mammal/tayra

    I love the heads on the side of the swimming pool. The girls look like they’re having so much fun.

    • Thanks for the flower info. There are a few of those in the garden, along with what looks like poinsettia, so I guess we’re ready for Christmas. :)

      The guy at the fruit stand told us the name of the animal in Spanish, but I can’t remember what it was. I don’t think it was Tayras, though. Okay, using your link, I think I found it! It’s a coati: http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/mammal/coati

      The swimming pool was fun – it had some cool statues on the other side, too. It was a hotel called Buena Vista in Ojochal run by a very nice French family.

  2. I know I don’t comment much, but I want to thank you for your diligence in updating. I find hope in my life by you living a dream. Thanks

  3. I liked the French influence in Ojochal and the fact that they have a french bakery there too. :) Citrus was an awesome restaurant in that area as well. Too bad it is so far away, and not yet quite as developed as we would prefer.

    I’m glad we were able to look around Jaco on our way home though. It seems to be much more of what we are looking for right now. Nice and beautiful area for sure, and very centrally located with lots of nearby conveniences and housing options.

    I’m also glad we have found such a great doctor in San Ramon and also a good midwife here in Alejuela. :)

  4. This makes me really excited to come visit you :D

    How nice to know you have a good doctor and midwife! That probably alleviates a lot of the worries you may have had. I’m sure that any place you end up moving to will be fabulous and you will enjoy it.

    As always, love the pictures and video!!

  5. Your garden looks so beautiful with the flowers ans trees, It will be hard to leave such a lovely place, but hopefully your next place of abode will be just as beautiful.
    The Dr. and Midwife you have found, are they near Grecia or closer to where you will be when the baby arrives?

    • The doctor and midwife and both an hour away in different directions. :) When we move by the hospital, we’ll be very close to the midwife. The doctor said he’d like to attend the home birth as well, so that’s nice – provided he can make it in time. :)

  6. What a beautiful place!! I think any child would feel special just knowing they had been born in such a place. Good luck with all the preparations!!

  7. We are a homeschool family with five kids living in Honduras. We homebirthed here unassisted (best option in practice after interviewing and best option for this mama who needs to be in charge 100%) all in all, homebirth has always been the best option for us. My best to you all! I checked in here because I am intrigued with your travelling lifestyle. Fascinating! Plus, we are moving to Ecuador and I am tremendously anxious and curious about the homeschool climate there. I am pleased to see you mention things are less pricey there, too. Thanks for the blogs! Fascinating!!

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